In their debut game, Donkey Kong Country, the regular blue Klaptraps are common enemies that can be easily avoided. They even pass harmlessly under Expresso the Ostrich's tall legs, allowing the Kongs to avoid them entirely when riding their Animal Friend.

Purple Klaptraps also appear rather frequently on the stage Loopy Lights, and also in a bonus level in the stage Trick Track Trek. These Klaptraps will always jump at the same time that the Kongs try to jump, which makes them more dangerous than the normal blue Klaptrap.

Klaptraps later appear in Donkey Kong Country's semi-sequel Donkey Kong Land. Klaptraps are relatively unchanged in this appearance aside from being monochromatic due to the Game Boy's graphical limitations.

An individual Klap Trap appears as an antagonist in the Donkey Kong Country novel. An employee of the Kremling factory, Klap Trap has a small chat with his coworker Zinger about King K. Rool's absence at the site and he then notices that the Kongs are eavesdropping on them. Klap Trap lunges at the group, but Diddy Kong defeats him by doing a cartwheel. The Kongs destroy the factory shortly after.

In the novel Donkey Kong Country: Rumble in the Jungle, while looking for a replacement part for Funky Kong's barrel plane, Diddy Kong encounters a Klap Trap within the Kremlings' supply room. Diddy Kong immediately tries to attack the Klap Trap, however it quickly evades all of his attacks, causing Diddy to crash into a storage shelf. Diddy manages to lodge a barrel in the Klap Trap's jaws while it was charging towards him, allowing Diddy time to escape the store room with the water pump.

In the Donkey Kong Country animated series Klaptraps are, instead of soldiers, ammunition for a weapon called a Klap-Blaster. Unlike the Klaptraps of the games, the ones on the show are capable of speaking. Often times when a Klaptrap is seen, it makes a sarcastic comment about its job or what it had just eaten. The show also features a singular Klaptrap character larger than his brethren.

After several years of absence, Klaptraps finally made a return in Donkey Kong 64, where they are given a new ability. Once a Klaptrap is defeated, its set of teeth will continually attack the Kongs until they break. Of course, the teeth will not attack the Kongs if an Orange or a musical instrument was used to defeat the Klaptrap. The teeth will also break upon falling into water.

Also introduced in the game are Purple Klaptraps. These Klaptraps are colored purple (instead of the usual green color) and are slightly larger than the Kongs. They are immune to all of the Kongs' attacks (even the shockwave attack), but can be defeated with an Orange or a musical instrument. Some of Donkey Kong 64's cutscenes show King K. Rool with a small Klaptrap that seems to be his pet. Red Klaptraps could also be seen in two cutscenes, and a giant red one was sent by King K. Rool to execute a Kasplat.

Also in Donkey Kong 64, a Klaptrap is playable in the minigame Beaver Bother; this marks the first time a Klaptrap is playable. However, just like Krusha, it is unknown whether or not if the Klaptrap you play as in Beaver Bother would actually choose to help the Kongs on their quest to defeat K. Rool.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Klap Traps have appeared in Donkey Kong's stages, Kongo Jungle and Jungle Japes. They swim through the water rapid and leap out of it in an attempt to bash characters to their doom. Since the stage returns in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Klap Traps are yet again seen; here they act the same. Likewise, Klap Traps reappear in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, as the stage Jungle Japes reappears in this game. The Klaptraps on the Kongo Jungle stage are colored orange, while those on Jungle Japes are blue.

Klaptraps are distractions in Donkey Kong's course in Mario Superstar Baseball. Klatraps try to bite the outfielder's heels, slowing them down. However, if the player were to hit the baseball into a Klaptrap's mouth, it will give the player a Team Star.

This low-slung alligator made its first appearance in Donkey Kong Country. You can subdue it by jumping on its back, but its powerful jaws make it dangerous to approach from the front. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, it swims in the river and sometimes jumps in the Barrel Cannon to stop players from using it.